


(Not) Her Boyfriend

by asarahworld



Series: The Doctor and Rose Tyler [23]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Ficandchips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 23:03:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld
Summary: Notes: I’ve actually been busy attempting a longer fic, and so haven’t posted very many ficlets, let alone completed any bingo squares.  So have a ficlet.





	(Not) Her Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: I’ve actually been busy attempting a longer fic, and so haven’t posted very many ficlets, let alone completed any bingo squares. So have a ficlet.

“No, Mum, I can’t ask him to take me home. Why? Mum, what if he doesn’t come back? He’s already gone and missed a year, I can’t risk that again. I know it’s been a while since I saw Cousin Mo.” Rose’s voice softened. “I know, Mum. Mo’s the only family we’ve got, too. I’ll speak to the designated driver, but ‘m starting to think that the TARDIS pilots herself sometimes. You too.” Rose hung up her mobile, thinking ponderously. Cousin Mo’s twenty-second birthday was looming, from her mother’s perception of time, and it had been nearly two years (from Rose’s perspective) since she’d seen her cousin (three years, counting the one Rose had missed, from Mo’s point of view).

The Doctor was waiting for her in the corridor. Rose blinked. “Hello,” she smiled.

He beamed. “Hullo. No detour to the wardrobe this ‘morning’?””

Rose looked down at her jeans. “Nah, I figured I’d check out the scene first, then decide if I needed a change or if I’d rather make a scene,” she joked.

“Where to?” He’d taken her hand and had his hand on the controls before she’d had time to answer.

“Mum’d like a visit,” Rose hedged.

“Saw her last week, didn’t you?” The Doctor deflected. “Anywhere and any-when, Rose! Barcelona? Did I ever tell you about Barcelona? The planet, I mean, not the city. Or Clom! Usually a rather dull planet, but Saturday mornings, the local Disney Land is a fantastic sight. People from all over the galaxy visit Clom’s Disney resorts, though they do tend to avoid the locals. Or the trees on Felspoon. Picture a sunset. Now forget it. These skies turn purple to green to orange, one of the best colour combinations in the galaxy. And when the stars appear, they’re so much brighter than the ones you lot see from Earth. Brighter, and closer, and we can go back and see them before anyone else in the universe has the chance to.”

Rose sighed deeply, smiling, thinking about all the lovely places that the Doctor had described. “It’s my cousin’s birthday,” she started uncertainly. The Doctor fixed his stare at the console. “I haven’t seen her in three years, Doctor. When we were kids, she used to get Mum to do her hair all the time. And once she had her hair done, it only took her a few minutes to put together an ‘ensemble’ (as she called it) together from Mum’s wardrobe. One for her, one for me. We were practically best mates, ‘cept for Mickey o’ course.”

“All of time and space, wherever you wish to go,” the Doctor said simply. “Powell Estate, London. What’s the date, then?”

“Twentieth of August. 2006.” Rose patted a coral strut hopefully. “But what’ll you do?” She had a sudden vision of the Doctor leaving, and this time never coming back instead of simply skipping a year.

“One might think that nine hundred years would give me some ideas of how to pass the time,” the Doctor smirked. “Time machine.”

Rose dared not suggest that he accompany her. “You’ll meet me in the flat?” She asked hopefully.

“Might,” the Doctor shrugged. “I do have a phone, Rose.” He opened his arms, and Rose hugged him.

“Yeah, but would you answer it?” Rose couldn’t help but tease.

“Might,” the Doctor repeated, noncommittedly.

“Right, then,” Rose said brazenly, “you come back at a decent hour, hear? I don’t want to hear those engines in twenty years, with some sort o’ tree woman in tow.”

The Doctor smirked enigmatically. “Go home. Rose Tyler.” He flipped a lever and Rose could suddenly hear a startled scream from outside. “That’d be your mother, I presume.”

“You’d better hope so.” She waved a finger at him. “Else you’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Me? I’m not even here.” The TARDIS began to dematerialize around Rose. She smiled sadly at the vanishing image of the Doctor until she was left staring at the blank telly. She wasn’t alone long, however, as she was quickly enveloped in a hug from her mother.

“Oh, you’re home! I nearly thought that you weren’t going to make it, said to Bev the other day. I said, Bev,”

“Mum,” Rose rolled her eyes, amused by Jackie’s antics.

Jackie hugged her daughter closer. “All right, enough about me, how are you? And be ready to leave in two hours, don’t want to be late!” She paused a moment, looking Rose over. “I suppose you’ll be needing in the loo. Must admit, I’ve sort of gotten used to taking a bit o’ time getting ready. But no matter,” Jackie smiled. “You’re home! Give me ten minutes to wash up, then you get on.” Rose nodded, absently wondering what she had in her own closet that would be nice enough to wear. She’d started to favour darker colours recently, and had shied away from the pink that had dominated her apparel.

Opening the door to her old bedroom, Rose stopped in shock. She must have stood there, staring, for a good fifteen minutes until Jackie came up to tell her that the loo was free. “Rose, aren’t you going to shower? I thought you said – blimey, that’s gorgeous.” Rose nodded.

There was a dress laying across her duvet. It was impossible not to notice immediately – the dark blue stood out proudly against the chequered pink blanket. There was a note laying off to the side. Smartly handwritten, it read:

Courtesy of the TARDIS. Wanted you to have something different for tonight if required.

Short and to the point. Rose reached out, touching the soft fabric reverently. The Doctor had remembered why she’d gone home and, more impossibly, had given her a dress (far sleeker than anything she’d ever owned) just for the occasion. If she’d ever believed in fairy tales, the Doctor was her knight in shining armour. He just never seemed to realize a knight generally kissed the princess after he saved her.

Moving on from that thought (or at least shoving it to the back of her mind), Rose quickly showered before tying up her old robe. Having heard the doors banging, Jackie shouted for her to come across the hall. Rose tightened her sash, padding into her mother’s room. Jackie promptly began to comb Rose’s hair, easily styling it into a loose updo.

The dress was easily dressed down – it was only her cousin’s party, after all – with a faded denim jacket and a pair of patterned stockings. Perhaps it was becoming a habit after spending so much time with the Doctor, but Rose opted for her boots. They were far more comfortable than any heels she owned, and she was starting to realize that at any moment, while with the Doctor at least, if she needed to start running, boots were far more practical than high heeled pumps.

The bus to Peak District was long and tiresome for Rose. It had been nearly a year since she’d been on a bus and she found that she’d quite gotten used to just appearing at her next, often unplanned, destination. She’d fidgeted nearly the whole way, making light conversation with Jackie when spoken to.

“Rose!” A grin split the older girl’s face as she raced forward to embrace her cousin. “It’s been too long!” Rose smiled, hugging Mo. “And Aunt Jaqs. How’s everything up in London?”

“Good,” Jackie answered, looking at her daughter.

“Yeah? That’s great! How’s Mickey, Rose?” Mo began a tirade of questions. Mickey, Jackie’s current boyfriend (“Boyfriends, perhaps?” “There’s always Jimbo, but truth be told, he’s pretty useless.”), the shop, the Estate. “So you finally broke up with Mickey, eh? Good on you, Rose. Sounds like he was already over you, how many dates did he go on with that Trishie girl before you broke it off, anyway?”

“Just the one,” Rose said defensively. “Anyway, he’s still my best mate. We’re just not together anymore. It just, it got so dull. Eat chips, watch football, make out a bit, and watch more footie. It was like I got stuck in some rut or something.”

“Whatever you say, Rosie.” Mo beamed. “I’ve got a couple o’ mates coming, should be here soon. They’ve promised to behave, but fair warning – they can get a bit randy.”  
Mo’s idea of a party was simple. Beer, crisps, with some cheese (there was a bit of mould on the end, easily scraped off) and loud music. Nevertheless, Rose enjoyed herself. This was the atmosphere she’d grown up in, and it was a comfort to come back to something so familiar after all the aliens she’d met and the foreign places she’d seen. So of course the Doctor would slip in, practically unnoticed, looking as though he were looking after an alien threat. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Rose followed him – Mo had gone off to talk to some friends, Jackie had made her way to the drink table for another round.

“What are you doing here?” Rose stepped forward, looking at the Doctor’s face.

“Rose? I thought you’d swanned off with your mother.” He said, looking (was she imagining?) slightly crestfallen.

“M here with Mum,” Rose told him off. “Mum, Cousin Mo, few of her friends. Go on, then – why are you here and not off in the TARDIS?”

“Did you actually think that I ever left Earth when you weren’t in the TARDIS? I might be the ‘designated driver’ (as you put it) in your mind, but the TARDIS goes where she wants. Usually, we’re in agreement about where or when that should be.”

Rose was staring at him in shock. “So when I missed a year?”

“That was the TARDIS,” he bristled. “It was important that we were in London to stop the Slitheen from nuking the planet, in case you’d forgotten.”

“You still haven’t told me why you’re in my cousin’s house,” Rose repeated. It was at that moment that Mo reappeared.

“Roooose!” She giggled. “Rose, you’re missing the party over here by yourself,” she slurred some of her vowels, dropped some consonants – partly due to her accent, partly because of the amount of alcohol she had already imbibed. After a moment, she noticed the Doctor. “Hello gorgeous,” she smiled.

“Hello. I take it that you’re Rose’s cousin. Mo, was it?” The Doctor smiled tightly.

“He knows my name,” Mo half-shouted, though on her part she appeared to be attempting a whisper. “So you’re the man Rosie dumped old Mickey for, eh? Good on you Rose,” she turned back to her cousin, “he’s a real looker.”

“Mo,” Rose snapped, mortified. The Doctor didn’t know, couldn’t know, how she really felt about him. Mo looked from Rose to the Doctor and once more to her cousin.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “You’re not…”

“He’s not my boyfriend, Mo.” Rose looked over at the Doctor nervously. It was far from the first time that someone had assume they were a couple – Jabe, Adam, and even her own father had made that supposition - but it felt different to deny it to someone she knew quite well.

“Well, maybe he should be.” Mo grinned, disappearing back into the crowd.

“Sorry about her,” Rose blustered. “Does this happen to you a lot? You must have had some other friends in the TARDIS before me?”

The Doctor didn’t answer. “Funny how nearly everyone we’ve met assumes we’re together.” He said slowly. “Never happened, maybe once, before I ran into you.”

“Must have something to do with,” Rose started a quip, but couldn’t quite figure out how to end it.

“Even someone slightly telepathic – like Jabe – could sense it. Hell, even your mother could see that I was, am, attracted to you.”

That I was, am, attracted to you. The Doctor’s words swirled in her mind. Before Rose’s mouth caught up to her mind, the Doctor had turned and started to walk away, his tall frame easily parting the crowd.

“Doctor!” She called, hurrying after him. He turned, a look of disbelief on his face. Rose smiled, a smile full of hope and bright eyes full of adoration. She reached for him and he took her hands in his, a gesture that was already so familiar. But this time, he was holding both her hands – loosely at their sides – with her entire (small) family to see.


End file.
